Mailbox

Today in Mailbox: The Czech Republic's current unemployment rate, popular beaches in the country, Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM). Listeners quoted: Rassem Ben Brahim, Bezazel Ben Ferhat Rabah, Swopan Chakroborty.

Hello and thanks for tuning in to Mailbox, Radio Prague’s weekly show for your views, questions and comments that never cease coming.

Our regular listener Rassem Ben Brahim from Tunisia would like to know:

“What is the unemployment rate in your country?”

According to latest figures released by the labour ministry, the Czech Republic’s unemployment rate in July slightly increased compared to the previous month and reached 8.7 percent. There were 505,284 jobless people at the end of July, that is 4,784 more than in June, and 19,695 more than in the same period of 2009. Analysts say they had predicted the increase, attributing it to young high-school and university graduates leaving school and failing to find employment.

Bezazel Ben Ferhat Rabah from Algeria sent us this question:

“What is the name of the biggest beach in your country?”

Máchovo jezero, photo: Barbora Kmentová

That is a tricky one as the Czech Republic is a landlocked country and therefore has no popular seaside resorts. However there are a number of river dams that have become popular summer resorts – on the Vltava, on the Dyje in South Moravia or on the Svratka River in the Moravian capital Brno. Also former sand quarries in the Elbe basin north and east of Prague, now filled with water, have beautiful sandy beaches. Perhaps the most popular beach in Bohemia is the one at Máchovo jezero – a lake named after the Romantic poet Karel Hynek Mácha, north of Prague.

Swopan Chakroborty from India asked a question concerning our broadcasts:

“What about Digitalization of Radio Prague? What is the plan of the Radio Prague authority about Digital Radio Mondiale or DRM? Are they planning to set up a DRM transmitter or is the technology rejected by them?”

As a matter of fact, Radio Prague did broadcast digitally using the Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) system between 2006 and 2009. It broadcast in German and English twice a week with the signal from the Rampisham transmitter in the UK covering Western and Central Europe. However due to the budget cuts earlier this year, the broadcasts were discontinued and there are no plans at the moment to reinstate them.

Thank you for those questions and please keep them coming.

And finally for our monthly quiz question:

Regular listeners may remember that our mystery lady more than two years ago was Sophie Chotek, the wife of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who along with her husband perished in the Sarajevo assassination in 1914. They were shot while sitting in a car. There was another person of Czech origin in the car and he is our mystery man for this month.

Please send us his name to [email protected] or Radio Prague, 12099 Prague by the end of August. I’ll be looking forward to your answers, reception reports and questions. Until next week, take care.